My New Property 2/10/09

113.5 acres of vacant land about 20 miles NW of my house. Quite remote for this part of the state. It has a large, flat, clean header at the bottom and old logging roads going all over the place. Southern exposure, great view once you get up there a bit. A small stream with many small waterfalls. A large stream across the road. State land on one side and one corner. 1000's of acres of State land nearby.

pic1 Looking west at Crane Mt.

pic2 Looking south

pic3 Looking SE towards the Hudson

pic4 Header at the bottom near the road.

pic5 Stream. Across the road

pic6 Topo map

If you have Google Earth this file is really cool

Portable, on demand hot water. All you need is water, propane and 2 batteries.

4/10/09: Log skidding trailer for my ATV. We tore down a trailer at the Barn and I salvaged these parts. It cost me a few spoons of grease, some welding wire and some sweat.

4/18/09: I got to spend my 1st night on the land. I had to use my ATV plow to push and hack away the snow bank by the road. There is still a speed bump of ice but at least I can get in. It sprinkled all afternoon, rained in the evening and there was a hard frost in the morning but Sunday was nice. It's a large parcel, it's got both steep and flat areas. It was logged pretty well 7-10 years ago but whoever did it was pretty responsible. I've got a lot of trail clearing to do.

Big rock It's unusual because it's not in a field of rocks. It just rolled off the hill and stopped here. Might be a good place for a deer stand.

Camp 2, May 23-26 2009. I was able to get things much more comfortable. Running hot and cold water, big tent, lots of food and beer, no frost. The mosquitoes were very bad all Saturday and Sunday morning. It rained a few times and was humid but cool. Monday and Tuesday were beautiful. I didn't use bug spray at all. I did some exploring and trail clearing. There are some great views from up on top. I have a lot of Beech and was able to get about 1.5 cords down to the clearing. I have a lot of work to do to make it a real camp. I met several of the neighbors and they all seem like good people. Bob owns 600 acres behind me and he took me all over it on ATV's. He's got trails going everywhere.

Pic 1..2..3

6/6/09 Log skidder in action.

3/20/10 It took 2 quads with plows and 4 hours to get a passable trail to the clearing. 1 2 3

4/3/10 1st camp of the year. No bugs yet. 1 2

8/12/10 Pic1

3/29/2011 We had a lot of snow this year so I hired a machine to clear out the access road. I hope we don't get anymore. pic1 pic2 pic3 pic4 I hope to get started on some kind of a more permanent structure this summer.

9/2/2011 I'm about to start building. I should have everything I need. Irene washed out the road but it should be repaired in time. I spent a lot of time setting things up to happen now and it would be very disappointing to postpone it. I have to get things weather proof during this vacation to keep the interior dry. I can then finish it off as time permits.

Foundation Foundation-1 The beams are a bunch of 2x6s sandwiched together. Seams are staggered so no 2 are together. I treated all the 2x6s with lots of vegetable oil. It has already begun to polymerize and will get hard over time. When finished the only way they'll be exposed to moisture is through the gravel from below. The 2x2s are just there to hold the plywood. Once the plywood is in place I'll build the 2x6 floor, add insulation and then more plywood. The 2x6s will be on 16" centers and only span about 6.5' so there should be no sag or bounce. I'm using rough cut lumber throughout so a 2x6 is really 2 1/8" x 6 1/4" The walls will be 2x4 on 24" centers and the roof will be 2x8 on 24" centers.

Profile The porch roof was my friend Johns idea. I like it. It should be steep enough for the snow to slide off easily and even if it doesn't it will be plenty strong with the plywood bracing.

9/6/11 Lumber I should be a little heavy on all the wood. Running back home or to the mill in the middle of construction would be a PITA. I made 5 trips in my old van with the trailer to get it here. Plywood not shown. Because of the washed out road I had to take the back way in. That added 13 miles to a 17 mile trip.

I built a small, 12 vdc generator to run the tools. 2.5 hp air cooled diesel and a 160 amp truck alternator. There are two batteries to store power and a 2500 watt inverter to give me 120 vac. It worked very well and could run a small air compressor and skill saw at the same time. Anything more and it would trip the breaker on the inverter. Eventually it will recharge some deep cycle batteries for regular low amperage camp needs. Pic1 pic2 pic3 pic4 pic5 pic6 It has a special voltage regulator that gives me a true, fully adjustable, 3 stage charge and the ability to limit the alternators output so as not to overload the engine.

9/8/11 I've spent the better part of 3 days getting all the lumber, tools, generators, etc. up here to build and I'm ready to start. The weather is supposed to be good for the next 3-5 days. John and I got about three hours in today and the floor is done. All 2x6 with 3-5" of cellulose insulation. I thought I brought enough. I had more at home but wasn't going to waste 1.5 hrs. to go get it. Pic1 pic2 pic3

9/9/11 My friends Russ, Jay and Steve got here around 10 in the morning. John and I had were starting on the first wall. He's a very thorough, professional carpenter and was able to show us a lot of tricks of the trade. Pic1 pic2 pic3 pic4

9/10/11 John couldn't get there till afternoon so Russ and I finished the rafters for the porch roof extension. We didn't use a template so the rafters were pretty far off. John fixed it. Pic1 pic2 pic3 Pic4 pic3 shows Russ, John, me, Steve, Jake the dog, and Jay, left to right. Russ deserves a special note for his work on the main roof. I didn't like the height and the sun was reflecting off the roof right up at me. He got the job finished and did great work. Jay and Steve did a fine job on the board and batten siding as well.

9/11/11 We got the porch roof on as well as the siding on three sides and wrapped up about noon. Pic1 pic2 pic3 pic4

9/12/11 John and I got most of the front finished off and put the window in. Pic1

9/13/11 John and I got the front finished and the door in. We put some splash protection on around the base and it's protected from the rain. It's pretty amazing how much got done in less than 6 days with about a 3.5 man average on site. In October I have some more time off. I'll put the braces on the porch roof and it will be ready for an Adirondack winter. The porch and interior finishing can wait till I get the time. Pic1

9/25/11 I couldn't wait for vacation. I got the porch roof all braced up and ready for winter. Pic1 pic2

10/2/11 I put the sides on the porch roof, put in the loft 2x4's and started on the insulation. Pic1

10/21/11 I've been up there most days for the past week. I got the ceiling 1x8's up and it's insulated. The walls are insulated and the footings for the porch are poured. I'm going to start on the wall 1x8 siding but I'll have to put in a side window first. I only have one window so I'll have to cut out the other one after I find a window. On Thursday I watched my tent turn into a kite. A gust of wind came up and it turned over. Pulled the stakes right out of the ground and ripped it up pretty well. It was raining and all my shit was in there, I had to scramble. The frame is good and I have a tarp I can put over it but I had to put most of my stuff in the shed so it's a pain to work in there.

10/26/11 I put in the window, the stove thimble and got the siding up on 2 walls. I'm going to need more 1x8 and it's going to have to dry for a while so the other 2 walls will have to wait till next year. I'm using a lot more 1x8 than I thought I would but thats partly because I used 40% more than originally planned for on the outside. (all 1x8 instead of 1x4 and 1x8) I have a 8000-15000 BTU heater on a 25 lb. propane tank and the building heats up quickly on the low setting. It wasn't that cold out but it shows it will be very easy to heat. Pic1 pic2 pic3 pic4 pic5 pic6

11/6/11 The deck is done. Pic I also spent a night up there. The only heat was a 10,000 BTU kerosine unit. It got down to about 18°F and the cabin was 70°F in the morning. I had a window opened about an inch on top and bottom. It's so tight I need to be careful about CO2, CO and low oxygen levels. I do have a smoke and carbon monoxide detector.

11/27/11 I closed things up. I have a few weeks off due to hernia surgery and it's about time anyway. The real winter is about to arrive and I won't be able to get up there anyway. pic

12/12/11 There hasn't been any real snow yet and I was able to get a few more things done towards the end of my leave (with help) All the inside walls are done, I just need to put up some more 1x8 in the loft, put in the floor boards and trim it up. I painted the wood stove and pipeing and burned it in. I also put in a couple days of unproductive deer hunting as well.